Flynn Rider's Guide to Becoming a Prince
by Alice Hates Wonderland
Summary: After an incident in the palace involving Rapunzel's crown, the King tells Flynn that the only way to achieve his dream and marry Rapunzel is if he can prove himself to be a trusty worthy prince. Much easier said than done, Flynn quickly finds out.


**Flynn Rider's Guide to Becoming A Prince**

**Chapter 1:** **The Cause of All the Trouble**

**A/N:** So I went to see this in theatres again for my fourth time and I realized just how much I love it! And what do I do when I love anything? Fan fiction apparently. I do warn you, I am a horrible person when it comes to updating normally, but whenever I get the chance I will write for this. It will be competing with one other fanfic but I figure I can split attention between them. Title is subject to change, I had a really good one, but I don't remember it at this moment so I might change soon.

Also, I do realize his name is Eugene, I always think of Eugene from Hey Arnold when I hear that name so I prefer Flynn.

Anywho, happy reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything, Disney owns the rights to ****Tangled****. All characters are strictly theirs. **

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It began with an empty room.

Not the most thrilling of beginnings, but it is the truth. And if the room had been occupied this mishap/quest would never have taken place.

But that's getting ahead, where we come in is when the door creaked open, and a brunette peeked her head into an empty bedroom, trying to gage on whether or not the inhabitant was present. When she couldn't see him, she bounced in with a chameleon on her shoulder holding on as she did. Bounding over to the bed, she ripped the covers violently off the bed, only to find it empty.

"Hmm… where is he?" she asked, tilting her head and tapping her pointer finger gently on her chin. The chameleon on her shoulder gave her a questioning squeak then jumped off her shoulder on the bed. He stepped around on the bed then looked up to her and shivered, he had been gone for some time. The chameleon jumped back on her arm, while she turned around and began to take in her surroundings. Clothes were tossed all around the room making it impossible to tell if he had gone out, but what did give her a good clue was the fact his boots were currently M.I.A.

"Okay, not here," she stated, walking out of the room and gently closing the door. She sighed and leaned against it once it had closed. "Where could he be? I finally get a day off from lessons and he's not even here."

The chameleon on her shoulder gave her a wide array of squeaks, that she took as words.

"I guess he could have just gone out, you're right Pascal, nothing to worry about." She comforted herself more than him. Pascal nodded then burrowed against her neck. "It's just, when he ran away once, I get a little more than intimidated when I can't find him." She sighed, then began to walk away, not really have a set destination, more just going for the sake of going.

As she walked she noticed that something seemed to be missing, and it was not her missing boyfriend, it seemed, rather, something on her person. As she was walking, she began to hear footsteps up ahead, around a sharp corner. They were light and fast paced, like someone was sneaking around. She grew suspicious that this new presence might be the missing boyfriend.

In order to reach the maker of the footsteps, she began to speed up, at the same time, she pulled back her dress in order to limit the noise it made when it brushed against her legs. She leaned down to be more aerodynamic, and sharply turned the corner to attack her victim.

"Gotcha!" She cried, wrapping her arms around her victim, only to find that this person was rather curvy, while the person she meant to attack was not.

"P-P-Princess Rapunzel?" A maid cried out, dropping her load of linens on the floor in shock. Rapunzel quickly pulled her hands back to herself and blushed.

"Sorry Beatrice," she apologized, trying to make herself appear less embarrassed. In reality, she wanted to go hide.

"No, it's fine. You are the princess, I should take it as an honor. You just scared me, that's all…" she said, reaching down to pick up the linens she dropped. Rapunzel dropped down to help.

"I'm so sorry though, I thought you were someone else. Speaking of, have you seen Eugene around?" She asked, stacking her pile of cloth on top of Beatrice's.

"Who?" asked she. Rapunzel sighed, but wasn't surprised. She was the only one who called him Eugene, and while he did promise to switch his name back, he had yet to do anything to try.

"Flynn," she muttered the name out, rolling her eyes. Beatrice rolled her eyes back, as if recalling some long lost memory.

"Not today, I'm afraid," she replied.

"Oh, I wonder where he could be…" she wondered aloud, drifting off at the end. Beatrice smiled then looked at her concern.

"By the way Princess, where is your tiara?" she asked. Rapunzel glanced up then ran her fingers over the top of her head.

"Ah! I must have forgot it in my room! Thank you Beatrice!" replied she, rushing back to her room.

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"I know it's in here somewhere! I had it yesterday!" Cried Rapunzel as she threw her pajamas onto the floor, simultaneously covering Pascal in a purple night. The covered chameleon let out an alarmed squeak, causing Rapunzel to run over to pile and lift it up, letting the very dazed chameleon stumble out.

"Sorry Pascal," she muttered. She walked back to where she was searching prior, only to find her search fruitless.

"Where could it be?" She asked to no one in particular, covering her face with her hands. Pascal jumped up on her knee then pointed with his tail to the door. She looked through her fingers then realized what he was signing.

"Oh! Mother and father might know!" She said, rising to her feet and scooping Pascal in her arms in one motion.

She found them where she always did, in the library, both reading books that Rapunzel had only dreamed about when she was in her tower, with three books to take up her time. Boring books at that…

When she walked in, the first thing they said, in sync, was:

"Good morning, Rapunzel, where is your crown?"

Rapunzel, feeling she had done something really bad, pushed her two pointer fingers together.

"Well, I… I … I don't know, actually."

"What?" the king asked, walking towards her.

"Well, I know I left it in my room, on my desk, but it was gone when I came back from exploring!" Rapunzel explained, throwing her arms out as a symbol exasperation. The king placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled. Rapunzel returned the smile, but felt a little weird on the inside.

She was in no way used to a dad, in fact, she hadn't even know that they existed until she met hers. And even then she didn't fully understand. Flynn had to explain that both sides were important.

("But why? I mean, the woman is the one who takes care of the kids? Why do guys matter?" She had once asked him, genuinely curious. She remember his grin, a spark in his eye and a change in his posture. She even remembered the way he kissed her.

"Oh, we have some importance," he teased, his eyebrows raising, releasing what she recalled him calling "the smolder".)

But, back to the point, the king was her father, and treated her right. And he loved her like her mother did (her real mother mind you).

"Don't worry, we'll find it. I'm sure you just misplaced it."

And with that, the king called his servants in for a complete search of Rapunzel's room. When nothing turned up, he decided to expand the search for all of that wing, then where Rapunzel spent time, then all of the servants' quarters, then the gardens, then finally, the entire castle. All the while Rapunzel grew more and more anxious.

And that anxiety grew to a new level after they found it.

* * *

Meanwhile, Flynn was out with Maximus.

Why? Well there was no real reason, other than boredom. For a guy who had basically been on the move constantly for the last few years of his life, the lazy palace life was not an easy transition. For the last few months, he had been basically sitting around, not having too much to do. The most exciting part of the day came when he saw Rapunzel, which was for only half the day, during the morning she was being taught by the finest of tutors, and in the afternoon, she would go and be with him, but usually she was pretty exhausted. Apparently her lessons were really tough after teaching herself for eighteen years.

So when he saw Maximus getting ready for his morning patrol, Flynn leapt from his bed and rushed to accompany him. As head of security, it was his normal routine, and from what Flynn could tell, he didn't seem to mind the company. Flynn didn't think that anyone would notice if he slipped away for a while.

But nothing could have been more far from the truth.

When the two returned to the castle, it was midday. Flynn dismounted Maximus and watched with a smile as he walked away towards the guard's tower, a part of the castle Flynn typically avoided. When he opened the castle doors, he had no idea the battle he was walking into.

As he began his walk to his room to change out of his clothes, which had become messy from his prior patrol, a guard who was stationed at the door reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. Flynn, being an ex-thief, jumped and turned to look at him.

"Hello there," he said in his typical suave fashion, mentally kicking himself from being nervous after the King had pardoned him the day he returned Rapunzel.

"The King and Queen want to meet with you, they are in their library, please go to them." The guard said in his typical trained way.

"But, I was going…" Flynn started, then seeing the guards eyes narrow with disgust, he quickly changed to his typical 'I-hate-you-for-making-me-do-this' face, "fine I'll go…" Walking towards the library, Flynn began to notice all the eyes of the servants were on him, and none of them seemed too pleased with him. Not that he expected them to welcome a thief with open arms, but it had a while now, and their sentiments hadn't seem to change. But now it seems even worse, like he had done something. Guilt rose in his chest, and he wasn't even sure why, he hadn't done anything!

Although as soon as he opened the door to the library, he had a feeling that the King and Queen might disagree. He entered with a nervous grin on his face and his posture was tense and locked. The king was standing by the window, while the queen was seated talking to her daughter, who also was seated next to her. When he entered, she looked up to him hurt and betrayed.

"Well, good morning to you two, it's good to see your bright and shining faces!" he sighed, opening his arms and smiling. Rapunzel looked from him to the King only to see him twitch his eyebrow.

"Mr. Fitzherbert, please sit," the King ordered. Already Flynn knew he was in deep crap. He knew that anytime someone used his real last name, he was going to get it.

"Geez, tough crowd," he muttered, slouching down into a chair. He looked up and saw a pair of angry icy eyes glaring back at him. He stole a glance at Rapunzel, who bit her lip and lowered her eyebrows. Her mother, meanwhile, was just staring with a disappointed look.

"Eugene Fitzherbert, explain to me how you happened to come into possession of our princess's crown?" He asked, holding up the crown so Flynn could inspect it.

"What? The crown?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"Yes, the one that we found stashed away under your bed," he asked. He looked at Flynn with scouring eyes. Flynn waved his hands in front of his face, as he had done when Rapunzel threatened him with the frying pan.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, and I promise you that I had no part to play in this!"

That was when the King exploded.

"And how can I believe you when you've lived your whole life deceiving people to get what you want?" He asked, slamming his hand down on his desk. Flynn's eyes widened, but didn't lose his confidence.

"I'm not deceiving you when I didn't actually do anything!"

"Listen, Eugene or Flynn or whatever you want to go by, we have a problem of trust here. You came to me asking permission to marry my daughter, but now I think about it again and I think that this might not be the best idea. If I can't trust you, I don't think your suitable. Until you prove yourself worthy of my trust and of my daughter's hand, you will never be part of this family. Do you understand?"

There was a pause, Rapunzel rising from her seat to look at her boyfriend, who looked at her and sighed.

"And what exactly can I do to make you trust me?"

"That is for you to decide, you're a big boy now," the king stated. Flynn cringed at the term big boy, the last time he heard that was when he was in the orphanage.

Flynn rolled his eyes, then smiled.

"Challenge accepted." He stated, rising from his chair and then winked at Rapunzel. He turned to walk out, feeling the heat of the royal family's glare on him.

Now, a new quest has begun.

**A/N:** This is actually a second draft. I wrote another version of this story, and it only came out to a page.

I apologize, I have a lot of trouble being funny in the first chapter, but I hope that you like.

Anyway I love to hear opinions and constructive criticism, so please let me know what you think! Reviews make me sooo happy!


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